Here's another way to save and perpetuate the R53, when you eventully need to replace the iron Brazilian lump, you can get one out of a salvaged PT Cruiser!

Heck Mr. PT might just be a driver's dream car, that the rest of us have missed!

 

The Tritec is one of the finest and strongest engines to come along in ages. It is legendary for both it's longevity and ability to withstand massive amounts of performance modifications. Beloved by driving enthusiast's, it offers a perfect blend of low end performance and high revving responsiveness, all with minimal torque steer.

The Peugeot prince... or "french fryer" is quite the opposite... with a piston slap design flaw that is still mystifying BMW, turbo generated heat so intense that it warps fake hood scoops, and massive torque steer that detracts from the overall driving experience. It is interesting that BMW has terminated it's relationship with Peugeot just 10 months after the launch of the R56... engine longevity is still very much in question, but indications at this point are not looking very promising...

 

Have any examples? And did they pass into oblivion for not being "pure"?

I remember in the 80s when the Japanese were using all sorts of electronics while the Germans were sticking to simple. I liked the simple idea. A simple dial for my heat/ac rather than a digital up and down. But all these years later now I have a German designed R53 with a heat/ac that more closely resembles the Japanese version from the 80s. Computers have taken over a lot of the functions. Seems the Japanese had something right. Since the 80s Lexus, Infiniti and Acura have done quite well with their ideas and have successfully expanded the luxury sedan market and have a sizable share of that market.

I do understand and respect your point, but evolution will continue on.

So what would qualify as a "pure" speedo. Is there an optimum size? I am old enough to remember that the speedos on some of the cars from the 60s and 70s that many "purists" covet today were awfully large and had little to do with function over form. And those old cars had a lot of styling details that had nothing to do with function such as needless fins, etc.

By the way, I own a 1972 VW bus. Obviously it is not in the same category but I absolutely love the simplicity of my bus. But I also know that it is not something that could compete today. VW made the mistake of not making enough change to the bus/van and the Chrysler and other minivans took over and now VW no longer has a van here. Believe me the VW bus purists hated any change and look where that kind of thinking got them? At one time they owned the market for small passenger vans. Their lack of foresight caused them to not only lose a big part of the market but ALL of the market. They went from ahead of the game, to behind, to out of the game. I wouldn't want to see that happen to MINI.

So I do understand the love of our R53. There is nothing wrong with that at all. I think for those of us that love it should be happy for the changes. It makes ours all that much more unique and worthy of keeping. But I can also appreciate the need to evolve and accept that sometimes not all changes are good or pleasing to me. But in the long run it is simply part of the necessary process of evolving and staying current or even ahead of the game.

 

For once I agree with Slag. The cold start issue of the new turbo engine deserves sticky status right along with "spontaneous engine fires" and "Is your car stalling upon starting" that plagued the tritec.

 

Velor seats, Christmas tree LED bar instrument clusters, **** carpeting, outrageous use of stickers, goofy head and tail lights, really funky and hard to use/understand stereo systems, dual mode suspensions (luxury and sport), his and her sunroofs, and a whole host of other gadgetry and componentry... and yes, other manufactures are guilty to varying degrees of the same thing... but the Japanese manufactures personified doo-dads to an art form during the 1980s... all in a quest for market share.

Did they past into oblivion for not being "pure"... that I don't know. I suspect they passed into oblivion for being tacky more than anything. I do know they certainly added nothing to the driving experience.

 

+1

and I feel that if the auto AC is too hard for some then save your money and get the regular one...thats what I did and to me its like having a stick shift for my AC I have complete control over it







Personally for me the stereo is the easiest thing to use (i am tech savvy tho so it may not be for everyone)

I didnt get a sun roof because I didn't want to deal with leaks...or the sun ....but I drove one with the sun roofs the other day and I think the dual pain sun roofs is very nice....Ive seen pics when people checkerboard the sunroof and then tilt both the pieces forward and it looks sooo nice

 

I think you give the Japanese "credit" for many American creations.

Velour seats? **** Carpet?

Otherwise you prove my point. Change sees its failures along the way. Those things get refined out eventually.

The 2002 MINI wasn't perfect.

 

The TRITEC engine start issues were mostly with the '02-'03 production cars and had much to do with poor calibration and programming of the Siemens EMS2000 engine management system. In fact, the actual engine hardware was and continue to be very solid.

 

Incorrect again. US versions of the PT Cruiser and Neon had 2.2L and 2.4L versions of the TRITEC engine. None of those blocks will fit the R53 engine bay which was designed for the 1600cc sized block. Further, only export versions (Europe and Africa) of the PT Cruiser and Neon had the normally aspirated 1.6L Tritec engine found in the Cooper. The Supercharged version of the TRITEC was exclusive to the R53 Cooper S for its entire production run. No other car shared this engine during its production cycle.

 

The very rare engine fires of the R53 were mostly early production cars. It was found that power steering fluid/break fluid was leaking onto the hot engine, causing the aforementioned fires. Had nothing to do with the engine itself. Another desperate attempt to chalk up catastrophic events to the TRITEC.

 

Fake hood scoops must find appeal to the masses as witnessed by the mustangs and the R58, which still offer them...

One can only hope in the case of BMW, that change does see its failures... and the R56 will be a short run, and the doo-dads go the way of **** carpet and velor seats, and we see a return to a driving enthusiast automobile in the follow on release.

 

It's really hard to find any fault with the mighty Tritec... as indicated by how far folks need to reach in an attempt to find any fault. And this is with an engine that has been available since 2002! The prince french fryer... now that is another story all together. Only with us a year now... and it has 2 very serious flaws... issues that may very well be design related based on the difficulty BMW is having in attempting to rectify the situation.

 

I'm curious about your screen name "itburns"... did you get that name after touching the hood of your R56?

For those that are curious... my screen name originates from a past time of smithing custom 1911 concealed carry pistols...

 

BMW has certainly had its shares of mistakes.

My guess is that these key fobs and turn signals won't go away and will become the norm eventually. I certainly could be wrong. Just guessing. I also think that if they hang around, they will get better.

But the good news is that changes will continue to come. Hopefully you will like the next round or the one after that or after that. If not, hang on to your R53 which was the point of the OP. I have no problem with that and will hang on to mine.

Of course the other option is to buy something other than a MINI. I still prefer the MINI to most, if not all other choices in its market category.

 

Yeah, I remember that early "spirit of community". The one that dumped all over the not yet released R56 as if the sky was falling, only to cease the major part of that dumping when the new powerplant/six speed trans etc proved to be extremely roadworthy. Now you sit around and hack on the big speedo, the headlights and the body changes...oh yeah, and the turn signal stalk controls...plus, let's not forget that key fob!
If a ten inch wheel hit you on the head, you wouldn't know it was a real Mini.

 

For those that are curious... my screen name originates from a past time of smithing custom 1911 concealed carry pistols...[/quote]

Surfblue says: Slag, the only REAL 1911 is a genuine 1937 National Match, like the one my father passed on to me. The rest are all pretenders. That's why they have all those DOO-DADS like extended mag releases, extended slide releases, etc. They're not the REAL THING. (sarcasm here, get it? )

 

Here is the irony in your statement... what I do is return the modern and so called "improved" 1911, with it's firing pin safety, soft extractor, plastic and MIM parts... back to the basics of the 1927 A1 series.

 

Extremely road worthy? I wouldn't call that hot running, piston slapping, torque steering, Peugeot french fryer engine "extremely road worthy"... that's for sure! Even motoringfile is going to run an article on that french turd... should be an interesting read.

 

As long as we are making a list, lets not forget the wiper gutter, the center stack, the side markers, the bigger booty, the gap between the bonnet and the arches, the side markers, the loss of the slat grille on the MCS, the higher belt-line, the downgraded sound system ...even the side view mirrors changed.

If you don't like any of these changes (as I don't) it's hard to be swayed into liking the car because it goes a little bit faster and gets better gas mileage. In fact, the superior gas mileage is the only part of the R56 that is a real improvement, to me.

I feel like a broken record here ...but just to be clear ...these are just my opinions. I don't think the R56 is a bad car by any stretch of the imagination ...it's just not a car I'd buy. It drives well ...but there is so much more to it than that. At least there is for me ...and obviously the OP thinks the same ...hence the discussion.

Dean.

 

Whats ironic is that most non-enthusiasts (non-mini-enthusiasts) would say that the R53s speedo is gigantic, as I got that comment a lot when I had mine. The R56's speedo isn't actually much larger than the R53s if I remember correctly, its just shaped differently and stands out more.

Additionally, isn't it kind of a fad to have a center mounted speedo in the first place? Its not like it serves a purpose other than to mimic the classics.

 

Gotta agree with Slagger here, and Im sure all MINI service advisors would as well. So what if I dont have a lot of low-end torque, I also dont have that annoying torque steer whose only cure, sadly, is AWD. If I wanted oppressive TS I'd just go buy an Acura Legend, circa 1994.

 

You guys are killing me here! So the issues with the Tritec engines (and guess what, my '06 R53 still had the stall upon cold start issue) are chalked up to it still being an early production model, and yet when the R56 has issues with its engine in its first year, its a serious design flaw? Give me a break.

On top of that, you guys are acting like every R56 to come off the assembly line has these issues and thats far from the truth.

So I take it you think the JCW package on the R53 is also a waste of money? I would have to assume so since the stock R56 is on par or slightly above in terms of performance as the R53 JCW, for about $6k less. And for the record, I have zero torque steer with the LSD.

 

How does this relate to this discussion in the slightest way?

I really don't think anyone cares where yours or anyone elses screen name comes from, although naming onself after a firearm does seem to offer some insight.

Long live the R53!

 

Sorry, you guessed wrong.

I think the R53 JCW package is just fine ...I have no interest in it, but I certainly do not think its a waste of money.

You aren't getting what I am saying ...so I'll say it a little more clearly. I don't care how much better the R56 performs than an R53 (which is another debate altogether) ...I don't like it because I have serious issues with the way it looks and the way things work. Period.

If the R56 did zero to sixty in 5 seconds and got 40 miles to the gallon, I still wouldn't be interested. It's not a performance thing for me. My R53 performs well beyond my needs.

My R53 is a daily driver that sees some spirited driving when I think I can get away with it. I don't auto cross, I don't go to the track and I don't care that there are other cars on the road that perform better than mine. I'm only trying to make one person happy with my car ...and that is me. I drove the R56 several times ...it didn't make me happy.

I'm really finding it amusing at this point that there are as many or more R56 owners particiating in this thread than R53 owners. Just how insecure are you folks? Just drive your car and be happy.